The EDC organise several community events each year:
You can subscribe to our email notification service in order to receive information about all of our forthcoming events.
We host a community-focused dance history festival each year; enthusiasts and professionals from across our community perform for each other’s pleasure. A list of our previous festivals can be found here.
FRIDAY
18:00 Reception opens
19:30 – 21:00 Dr Matthew Spring “Music and Dance in the Context of the 15th Century Tournament Culture” with drinks & a light supper.
SATURDAY
9:00 Festival Reception opens for rehearsals.
13:00 – 17:00 Festival Performances
18:00 – 19:15 Dinner
19:45 – 22:15 Dancing with caller Colin Hume & Red Jelly band.
SUNDAY
11:00 – 12:30 Walking tour of Bury St Edmunds’ medieval streets.
More information and the booking form can be found HERE.
Due to the Guildhall size restrictions, we may need to restrict participants to 80. Book early to avoid disappointment.
We host a popular dance history lecture each year. An archive of information on our previous lectures can be found here.
Reconstructing Seventeenth-Century Maypole Dance: Dance, Experience, Culturewith comments about modern Maypole dancing by Mike Ruff
Here are the details of our 2025 Lecture.
The event is free with donations (optional) but requires registration. Please register via the event Eventbrite page. The lecture will be recorded and distributed after the event if you cannot attend.
The EDC hosts a major dance history conference every two years. Proceedings are published and an archive of information on our previous conferences can be found here.
The Conference brings together international specialists on historical dance topics spanning six centuries of dance history in the delightful surroundings of St Katharine’s Retreat House.
The Call for Papers for the 2026 Conference is available here.
We host and collaborate on other events from time to time. These can include workshops, study days, and additional lectures as the opportunities arise. Many such projects are undertaken in collaboration with other organisations. Do get in touch with us if you have a joint project in mind. An archive of information on our previous special events can be found here. What follows are details of our next Special Event.
10:00 – 17:00 17 November, FABRIC studios, Level 5 Birmingham Hippodrome, Thorp Street, Birmingham B5 4 TB
Early Dance Circle is excited to offer young dancers an opportunity to discover Renaissance Dance thanks to a private donation by a long-term member of the society.
The Renaissance dance repertoire is varied and exciting, with solos, duets, and set choreography in a variety of forms and moods. It offers courtly romance, dramatic interaction, moments of comedy, and stately processional dignity. There is scope for intense teamwork and individual virtuosity. Opportunities for performance at historic venues are becoming more common as this period (Tudors) is covered by the school curriculum and popular TV productions.
To register, please email to secretary(at)earlydancecircle.co.uk.
Image courtesy: Dancing at Kenilworth Castle, Summer 2024, by Martin Blair
Kath Waters is an experienced teacher and performer of historical dance with a background in Classical Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She is an Artistic Director of Stratford Renaissance Dance, a co-founder of Apollo’s Revels, a music and dance ensemble specialising in Baroque Dance repertoire, and a member of Mercurius Company. She performs and teaches Historical Dance nationally and internationally.
An evening of the 18th-century dance & music with The Weaver Ensemble
The Weaver Ensemble, led by Evelyn Nallen, offers an evening of music, song, and dance from the London stage of the 1700s, focused on the works of the celebrated English dancer, choreographer, and scholar, John Weaver, 1673-1760. The Weaver Ensemble will present two productions “The Loves of Mars & Venus” and “The Loves of Pygmalion”. They are not reconstructions, but celebrate Weaver’s contribution to the history of dance. They are devisCall for Papersed by Evelyn Nallen and Stephen Wyatt, and scripted by Stephen Wyatt, with a performing team of an actor, two dancers, and four on-stage musicians. Productions use original 18th – century choreographies. This is not the work of John Weaver, but offers a glimpse into the pleasure early dance can offer modern audiences. Artur Zakirov joins the Weaver Ensemble in the new year, taking over leading roles in Pygmalion and The Loves of Mars and Venus.
Venue: Marylebone Theatre, 35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT (6 mins walk from Baker Street Tube Station)
Tickets: £15 (excl booking fee) book at Eventbrite
Monday December 14
The premiere of the programme was on the EDC Facebook page and YouTube channel, it remains available to watch now. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOnjOprUWs0.
The Early Dance Circle has prepared a special programme of dance and music composed by Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 – 14.12.1780) on 14 December 2020.
Sancho is famous nowadays as a man of letters and the first African to vote in a British election. Now you can enjoy reconstructions of Sancho’s choreographies and music by the Hampshire Regency Dancers, Quadrille Club and Green Ginger, as well as discussions and interviews with some knowledgeable experts on his career:
Meryl Thomson (Green Ginger), who recently recorded the CD “Dances for a Princess”. Paul Cooper, a specialist in Regency dance, who has worked a good deal on Sancho. Sally Petchey, author of a recent book about the life and dances of Ignatius Sancho: Dances for a Princess, humbly dedicated (with permission) to the Princess Royal by Her Royal Highnesses Most Obedient Servant Ignatius Sancho.